Abstract A method for the economically favorable recovery of both base and precious metals from asteroids is presented. After transportation to high Earth orbit, asteroidal material would be processed into silicate glazed, 10 ton, metal cones. These cones would be dropped to remote terrestial sites from Earth orbit. It is estimated that for an investment of $23–57 billion, the first 5 × 109 ton asteroid (1566 Icarus) returned to the Earth would yield a return on investment of $100 billion to $2.2 trillion. By reusing the retrieval craft subsequent missions would be even more profitable, costing around $780 million per year to sustain the program.
Recovery of asteroidal metals for terrestrial utilization
Acta Astronautica ; 13 , 3 ; 101-104
1985-07-02
4 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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